Hiding Mouse Cursor/Pointer In XP

[NickS]

After using dos for mame for quite a while now I thought I would give XP a try. I have been pleasantly surprised that many of my concerns about using XP (or Windows) have been unfounded. I have been able to hide windows and also have a quick/safe shutdown.

My last problem is how to remove or hide the mouse cursor. After using the search option it seems that no one has found a complete solution. Does anyone know of a new solution to achieve this?. Are there any software packages that achieve this?. I see that that some people have used an "invisible cursor" to try and hide it. Does anyone know where one is available for download or can pm me one. I have not been able to find one from my own searching.

[DaemonCollector]

http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php/topic,22414.0.html

Look in that post, if you look through to all the stuff i put in there its a complete guide to hiding everything in XP, towords the end of the thread I put my solution to the curosor issue.

[NickS]

http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php/topic,22414.0.html

Look in that post, if you look through to all the stuff i put in there its a complete guide to hiding everything in XP, towords the end of the thread I put my solution to the curosor issue.

To get rid of the starting cursor in windows XP Open Regedit, got the HKEY_USERS\.Default\Control Panel\ Create a key called "Cursors" and within this key create new string values as shown in the attached screenshot, but point them to whatever cursor you want.

 

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Thanks,

I had missed the second page of the thread. I had already used a lot of your suggestions. I am afraid I found your instructions for hiding the cursor a little confusing.

I opened Regedit, got the HKEY_USERS\.Default\Control Panel\ Create a key calledin this key create a new key "default" with a value of "1 Pixel" but the what do I do. How do i point it towards this. Sorry but I might need an idiots guide on how to do this.

[DaemonCollector]

Eep, sorry, forgot how that was shown. The (default) value dosn't really do anything. The rest of the values is what your really looking at. 1px.cur is a 1 pixel black dot i made into a cursor. All you have to do is put it in the cursors directory and use the path as shown with the name of your .cur file in it. I know mameWah comes with a transparent cursor that you could use. Let me know if you have any other q's

[NickS]

Eep, sorry, forgot how that was shown. The (default) value dosn't really do anything. The rest of the values is what your really looking at. 1px.cur is a 1 pixel black dot i made into a cursor. All you have to do is put it in the cursors directory and use the path as shown with the name of your .cur file in it. I know mameWah comes with a transparent cursor that you could use. Let me know if you have any other q's

Thanks,

I used regedit and inputed everything as shown in the screenshot. I may be being stupid but how do I put it from regedit to the cursors directory. I know I can use control panel to change the look of the mouse pointer but how do I put the new cursor in the cusor folder in order to do this. I do not suppose there is any chance of emailing me your 1px.cur file or attach it to your reply. I should be able to just chance the cursor then. Sorry for the confusion.

[ahmer]

have you all completely hide mouse cursor forever.I'd like to disable the cursor, but havn't figured out how yet. You can create a custom pointer and make it invisible, but Windows XP shows the default cursor for a few seconds before loading any custom cursors.

what (free) software you use to change windows Boots and shutdown
screen.I tried BootXp but my custom bootable screen was looking very Ugly.

[SpamMe]

have you all completely hide mouse cursor forever.I'd like to disable the cursor, but havn't figured out how yet. You can create a custom pointer and make it invisible, but Windows XP shows the default cursor for a few seconds before loading any custom cursors.

The second-to-last post in the thread DaemonCollector linked to has the answer. Here's an alternative, though: http://www.upup.us/old/2003_09_01_old.html#106476921919989082

[NickS]

Hello,

I downloaded a trial version of a cursor editor and created a 1 pixel black transparent cursor. This has allowed me hide the cursor in all but the startup screen. I have tried to follow DaemonCollector's explanation for getting rid of the starting cursor ( bottom of http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php/topic,22414.0/all.html ) without any luck. I have used regedit to make the changes as shown in the screenshot but I think I have missed something as it has unfortunately not hiden the startup cursor. Any further help/advice would be greatly appreciated.

[DaemonCollector]

I'll try to explain it step by step.

1. Create a new cursor called 1px.cur
2. Place that cursor into your C:\Windows\Cursors directory
3. Open regedit
4. Navigate to HKEY_USERS\.Default\Control Panel\
5. Right click on Control Panel and create a new key called "Cursors"
6. Click on the newly created key
7. Click on the white box on the right and create new string values as per the attached picture.

[NickS]

Thanks,

Your last explanation had done the trick. It seems to work great.

[DaemonCollector]

Good to hear 

[sega_mad]

I too have this problem.

I have followed DaemonCollector instructions to the letter, but I still get a "flash" of the mouse cursor for about a half second.

Running a 15Khz arcade screen. Mala as a shell for my front end.

Everything else is hidden perfectly, and this is a really driving me nuts!!

Any help much appreciated

[DaemonCollector]

Wow...surprised I even remembered my login to this site...

It's quite possible that the default user behavior has been changed in recent revisions of XP. If you would post a list of all the users listed in your HKEY_USERS directory.

And wow...3 year old post, gotta love thread subscriptions, barely remember writing this

[sega_mad]

I'm running a hacked version of XP, called XP tiny (revision 2, I think, but could be 5).

Sorry, not sure what you mean by listing "all the users" (but of a dumb ass I'm sorry!!), you'll have to spell that out!!

Many thanks

[DaemonCollector]

open regedit, navigate to HKEY_USERS on the left pane, and list all the keys that are underneath it, each of these coresponds to a user on the computer.

[sega_mad]

Thought this way would be easier (so there are no mistakes)

Thx

[DaemonCollector]

Alright, so it looks like that still uses the same system. Go into the .Default/Control PAnel key and take another picture and then another one of the Cursors key under there

[sega_mad]

Here we go.....hope it right!!

[DaemonCollector]

Everything looks ok, the only thing I can think of is that it isn't finding 1px.cur, are you sure it exists?

[sega_mad]

Yip. 100% certain.

If I right click on Mala (front end) to get it the options, then the cursor is a 1 pixel black dot!!

[DaemonCollector]

I'm not sure whats going on then :/ My arcade machine is 900 miles from me and ive switched to a Mac in the last year

[sega_mad]

Thanks anyway,

If you have a thought, let me know.

Interestingly, if I use my LCD screen, it doesn't show up at all, only on my Arcade CRT!!

Thanks

[Popcorrin]

I think it still shows up for a fraction of a second regardless if you have everything set up correctly.
  I think the reason you might see it on your arcade monitor and not on your lcd is because when your lcd switches resolutions it blacks out for a second, or at least that is what happens with my pc monitor.

[superart]

edit

[DaemonCollector]

Nomousy won't work to hide the cursor during the login process though, which is the issue at hand.

[sega_mad]

Thanks all for your help.

Maybe it's possible to tell the mouse cursor to go to the bottom right hand corner. I guess it must be possible.....any thoughts anyone??

thx

[TeutonicDarkness]

I did as many other users posting here...
 Change the Windows Cursor to a small 1 pixel dot,
use Tweak UI to make it default at login, etc.


 I thought I had it beat then recently something made
my computer run a little slower at login and there it
was for about 3 seconds!

AHHH! I thought it was never really gone just most newer
computers boot so fast you wont Notice it!


 I just was not satisfied so went a little further....
I permanently deleted all other system cursors..

But when I clicked the Default Button in Mouse
pointer options... they were back.


( I think possibly windows reserves a copy of the loading XP
cursor inside a cab file or exe to be temporarily restored
at login.)


 Anyway I messed around with a new idea I now had only
2 mouse themes:

Mame, None,


When I switched to None it would not let me delete it...
( Damn it! )

So I tied to Save the Mame Theme to the name
(None); which it would not let me do.


 I tried it using a program called ( Windows enabler )
at first it didn't work. so I started digging around in
the Registry and made a few changed came back
and tried to save my Mame cursor set to the name:

( None) at first it didn't take... I clicked Windows Enabler on
and tried it again.


Guess what? It asked me I wanted to overwrite this existing
file ( or something similar) So naturally I clicked YES

I rebooted and there is no Cursor at all and all the Default stuff
is gone.



 I tried the exact same thing on another computer and it isn't working?
So maybe its something I hacked in the registry... who know.


Anyway I exported the Key from the registry to try out later.


I could zip up all the cursors I used, Windows Enabler, and
the exported registry key for anyone to study.


If anyone is interested? 



*** Teutonic Darkness ***
 

[Lilwolf]

btw, what do people do when they need to admin their machines without a cursor?

Can you turn it back on when existing your frontend?  Or is this just the last step and hope you don't need to do anything?

I got a hidecursor program a while ago from someone that you can hide the cursor.  Then you can unhide it later and it worked great (during testing)... but I didn't use it right away, and lost the email so I didn't know the command lines..  So for me, I hide it on start up.... but I have to modify the startup when I'm expecting to do some work.  I wish I remembered the command line to reenable the cursor

[unclet]

Hidecursor and Showcursor are commands from VB I believe ...... you can always try "showcursor" to see what happens.

If you just want a quick EXE to hide the cursor and also show the cursor again, I am sure someone can make this for you rather quickly.   Is this what your current program did only ..... or is there more functionality included perhaps?

[Lilwolf]

It did it system wide.  (so you could hide the cursor when going into your frontend, then on exit, you could turn it back on)

[TeutonicDarkness]

btw, what do people do when they need to admin their machines without a cursor?

Can you turn it back on when existing your frontend?  Or is this just the last step and hope you don't need to do anything?

I got a hidecursor program a while ago from someone that you can hide the cursor.  Then you can unhide it later and it worked great (during testing)... but I didn't use it right away, and lost the email so I didn't know the command lines..  So for me, I hide it on start up.... but I have to modify the startup when I'm expecting to do some work.  I wish I remembered the command line to reenable the cursor

 Actually what I'm doing is Disabling The "Login Cursors"
as in "Game Mode" That's all that would be visible.

 I have don't Need cursors while gaming...
When I have To actually Fix Things...
I disable the Shell Start Explorer.exe by ctr alt Dele >
New Task Run >


The My Crosshair cursor kick in which works
great considering I wont be using mouse but Light Guns.


The Crosshairs are never seen unless I exited the
Mamewah shell.

I just yesterday figured out  how to even futher Prevent The login cursors from ever returning. I hacked user32.dll using resource hacker
and Replaced the defaults with  1 pixel cursors mathing
the original size or smaller so it would be accepted by Windows.

 Without doing this their is allways the chance the default
login cursors could reappear since the have a permanent
backup inside user32.dll unless you modify as I mentioned...



Hope that helps....



*** Teutonic Darkness ***

[Bender]

I just yesterday figured out  how to even futher Prevent The login cursors from ever returning. I hacked user32.dll using resource hacker
and Replaced the defaults with  1 pixel cursors mathing
the original size or smaller so it would be accepted by Windows.

 Without doing this their is allways the chance the default
login cursors could reappear since the have a permanent
backup inside user32.dll unless you modify as I mentioned...

Hope that helps....

*** Teutonic Darkness ***

I know this is old but I just had to say I've been trying for a couple of years of and on to get rid of that F***ing initial start up cursor and/or hourglass

I've tried everything, Tweak UI, instant sheller, quick sheller, editing the registry and still nothing no success

Till Today....

I got resource hacker opened the user32.dll with it hit the action menu and replaced 100 (regular cursor) and 102 (hourglass) with a black dot cursor saved the file as user32.dll and replaced the original file, rebooted and BINGO!!!!!

NO FLASH OF CURSOR OR HOURGLASS EVERRRRRRRRR!!!!!!!!!, thank god!!! Finally

Thank you, TeutonicDarkness

EDIT:**this only works in XP Professional, XP home does not allow you to replace or delete system files**
EDIT: ohh you can do it in XP home but you have to find a way to access the C: drive outside of xp home
I used a XP Pro live cd to replace the User32.dll filell is good in XP home too

[TeutonicDarkness]

I know this is old but I just had to say I've been trying for a couple of years of and on to get rid of that F***ing initial start up cursor and/or hourglass

I've tried everything, Tweak UI, instant sheller, quick sheller, editing the registry and still nothing no success

Till Today....

I got resource hacker opened the user32.dll with it hit the action menu and replaced 100 (regular cursor) and 102 (hourglass) with a black dot cursor saved the file as user32.dll and replaced the original file, rebooted and BINGO!!!!!

NO FLASH OF CURSOR OR HOURGLASS EVERRRRRRRRR!!!!!!!!!, thank god!!! Finally

Thank you, TeutonicDarkness

EDIT:**this only works in XP Professional, XP home does not allow you to replace or delete system files**
EDIT: ohh you can do it in XP home but you have to find a way to access the C: drive outside of xp home
I used a XP Pro live cd to replace the User32.dll filell is good in XP home too

Hey,

 No problem glad it helped!
Resource hacker has saved me many times. Have you tried removing Windows file protection on XP Home?
What I did on my set up is made a backup og every single icon in default setting and make a new theme.
I'm also using Autohotkey script run as a service that acts like a screensaver for your mouse!
after about 4-5 idle seconds even the 1 pixel curor disaperars.

So When I need To work on it... I hit the "M" key which disables the screensaver mode of
the 1 pixel cursor. CRTL ALT DEL my way back to explorer and look closely for 1 pixel cursor.
Go to control panel mouse.. change back to my "New Default Theme".
Now I can see a normal cursor for long period of configuring instead of straining my
eyes looking for a tiny dot!

No need to worry when I'm through working I re-start all is returned to a 1 pixel dot with
its "screensaver mode". Been running like this for a few months now. It works well for me.

[Malenko]

remind me to bump this thread in 3 years, I wanna keep up the tradition

[Bender]

TeutonicDarkness

that's a cool idea
I do something similar already I just have a second theme I use while configuring that has a mouse pointer I can see
How do you remove Windows file protection from the home version?

Malenko,

I can't tell you how long I searched to find a way to get rid of that cursor, probably longer than this thread has been in existence

I'll try to remember to bump it in 3 years too!

[r0bbyr0b]

TeutonicDarkness

that's a cool idea
I do something similar already I just have a second theme I use while configuring that has a mouse pointer I can see
How do you remove Windows file protection from the home version?

Malenko,

I can't tell you how long I searched to find a way to get rid of that cursor, probably longer than this thread has been in existence

I'll try to remember to bump it in 3 years too!

I realize this is old, but is one of the only good references via google for this fix... ,
 so i thought I could help with this question...

 you can save a copy of user32.dll to your desktop or my documents folder after making the corrections to cursor group 100 and 102 as stated earlier in the posts by using Resource Hacker,

 after saving the file put it on a usb drive or burn it to a CD or floppy(if equipped) then use your windows boot/install disc when starting your PC it will ask you to press a key to boot from the CD...

Press a key to start the boot disc,

 Once it loads it will ask if you want to install or repair windows

Type "R" for repair,

 This will take you to a command prompt interface, it will ask you which windows do you want to repair?

Example: 1. C:\Windows\

Type "1" and press enter

then it will ask for the admin password, if you do not have one, just press enter

then you will be here

C:\WINDOWS\

find the drive letter for where your copy of user32.dll is stored by typing D: or F: etc

if you get to another drive letter you can check the contents by typing "dir" and press enter, if your user32.dll is there type the following command

"copy user32.dll C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\" and press enter

it will ask you if you want to override the current file, type the letter "Y" and press enter

it will say 1 file copied, type "exit" press enter

system will restart, remove the boot disc, windows will load and the cursor will be gone due to the user32.dll file being replaced

Good Luck!~